Blood and Venom - Book 4: In Noctem
by woodmr13
Summary: When Lauren began her long journey to Oakside, she left a lot of friends behind... friends who have a tale of their own to tell. Whether their stories will intertwine ever again is uncertain, but the people back home are in for a very similar nightmare. -An original story inspired by the Slender Man and Slenderverse Mythos, SCP Foundation Lore, and numerous other sources.
1. The Gathering

**ATTENTION!**

 **ONGOING REVISIONS ARE IN PROGRESS BEYOND THIS POINT!**

 **CONTENT** **AND QUALITY** **AHEAD MAY NOT LINE UP WITH PREVIOUS CHAPTERS/STORIES!**

* * *

It was the 9th of June when everything was abruptly set into motion. There wasn't a single person in that small town who could've anticipated the events that would soon take place on what was meant to be such a perfect day in the state of Washington. The sun shone brightly down on the small neighborhood below, undaunted by the puffy white clouds that took up most of the sky. A warm wind blew gently through the suburbs, rustling the dark green leaves on the trees and causing the grass to sway ever so slightly. The birds soaring through the air chirped excitedly as they hunted for food to feed their young, and the squirrels and chipmunks chattered to one another while foraging for supplies to build a nest. The street was packed with cars that weren't able to fit into one particular house's driveway and showed no sign of dispersing any time soon. Said driveway and the yard it led to was packed with people from all over the state, and a banister that hung between two trees near the mailbox read;

 _Congratulations Dwight!_

 _North Bend High School, Class of 2012_

Two friends sat at a wooden picnic table that had been rented for the open house. The first, 17-year-old Dwight Thompson, was the man of the day. He'd graduated only two days before his open house, since not only was he eager to get through both events, but most of his family could only make it to one or the other due to distance and work schedules, and having them so close together was a way to make sure that most of them could be there for both. He was taller than most teenagers his age, standing at 6'0", and featured a rather stocky build. His hazel eyes contrasted slightly with his dark skin and short hair, and he wore khaki shorts and a light blue short sleeve dress shirt, as well as a cheerful grin as he joked with one of his best friends, Aaron Ross. At 15 years old, Aaron was the second youngest member of their little group, but he made up for what he lacked in age with maturity and attitude. He was only slightly shorter than Dwight, standing at 5'9", but he also had a semi-muscular build. His skin was an even mixture of pale and tan, and his dark brown, ear length hair was the exact same color as his eyes. He simply wore blue jeans and a black T-shirt, and on his right hand's ring finger was a silver class ring featuring an oval cut peridot, his birthstone. Unlike many of his peers, he'd decided to buy his class ring during freshman year.

"So, how's it feel to finally be free from that school?" Aaron asked.

"Pretty good, although I'm not exactly free. I still have like 13 years worth of medical school to go through… not really looking forward to that," Dwight responded.

"It'll be worth it man. College will be over before you know it, and then you'll be making more money than all the rest of us combined."

"Maybe, I'm still not entirely sure which program I want to go into".

"You'll figure it out. Hell, you should be a combat medic. I'm gonna enlist in the military in a couple years, maybe you and I can be in the same unit."

"I think I'll pass, and I really think you need to rethink this whole military thing. I get that you want to fight for your country, Aaron, but…"

"It's more than that man. Every other day it's the same story in the news. Whether it's terrorist attacks in Afghanistan or some psychopath running loose in New York, I have to sit here completely powerless to do anything about it and I hate it. Joining the marines will change that."

"I see where you're coming from, and believe me, I understand, but you need to take your loved ones into consideration. What would they think if you got hurt, or god forbid, killed somewhere overseas? Your mom, your dad, your little brother and sister… What about us? What about Kelsey?"

"They'd understand, and so would you guys. Kelsey's known for a while now that I want to do this. And believe me, I've taken everybody into consideration. To be perfectly honest, I'd just feel irresponsible being safe back at home and knowing that I could be out there protecting them and so many others."

"Aaron, that's the dumbest shit you've ever said to me. You can protect the people you love just as good here as you could over there. Trust me, staying here is what's best for everyone.

"Whatever man, it's not like…" Aaron began, before letting out a loud sigh. "This isn't the time or the place for a conversation like this. Come on, enough future talk, let's just enjoy this party for what it's worth."

"I couldn't agree with you more," Dwight replied, taking a drink from his soda.

"Besides, we have more important matters to attend to," Aaron began with a smirk. "Like those two going ham with the PDA over there," he finished, gesturing over to two more members of their group. The 18-year-old couple, Luke Greene and Lily Smith, had both taken residence on a cushioned bench under the shade of a few trees. Luke sat upright with his right arm resting on the side of the bench, the other wrapped around his girlfriend, her head resting on his shoulder. He wore a simple pair of long black shorts as well as a gray tank top, and Lily was clad in dark blue skinny jeans and a white sweater. They were both rather tan, and Luke's sandy blonde hair contrasted heavily with the shadows they sat in, as did Lily's long amber hair. Luke had a semi-stocky build, while Lily's could only be described as petite. Their eyes were both different shades of green, with Lily's being only slightly brighter than Luke's.

"Can we have an actual conversation now, or are you two not done making out yet?" Dwight shouted to them.

"Luke responded by flipping both Dwight and Aaron the bird, causing Lily to chuckle."

"Well fuck you too, pal," Aaron laughed, returning the gesture.

Luke grinned before responding; "Better watch your language or you're gonna get in trouble with Gavin for cussing in front of junior"

"Too late," the 19-year-old said from beside Aaron before smacking him in the back of the head. Aaron retaliated by slugging Gavin in the arm as he sat down at the bench.

"Give me a break, Ethan's only two years younger than me and he probably says and hears worse things on a daily basis," Aaron grumbled.

"I know, I just wanted to smack you," Gavin taunted.

"Take notes, kid, your brother is a Grade-A douchebag," Aaron said to the 11-year-old watching their banter with an amused look.

"Mom, Dad, please stop fighting," Ethan joked. The boy was the spitting image of his older brother; a lightweight build, pale complexion, and shaggy black hair included. The biggest difference other than their age gap was their clothing. While Gavin wore blue jeans and a brown jacket, Ethan wore sweatpants and a blue long-sleeved shirt.

"All I get for protecting you from Aaron's potty mouth is 'please stop fighting'? Thanks, bro, I'm really feeling the love," Gavin said, his voice dripping with amused sarcasm.

"It was a good attempt, but it's too little too late dude," Ethan laughed. "Oh, hey! I just remembered, weren't we going to take Dwight to hit some baseballs at that crappy old school's field? The one where Gavin used to go?"

"Yeah, Pinewood Elementary. The place has been closed down for a good seven years or so. It's a real shame too, I have some good memories there," Gavin answered.

"Hey Gavin, do you think we'd be able to get inside that place? I've been wanting to explore it for a couple months now," Aaron said.

"Probably, although it's up to the man himself," Gavin said.

"I'm up for doing both of those things," Dwight mused, "But you guys owe me a round of baseball first. I'm not gonna be able to play anymore once college starts, at least on a team anyway. I won't have any free time anymore."

"Alright, sounds like we have a plan," Lily piped up. "I get to be a team captain though since I played softball in high school, and none of the rest of you played either one."

"Oh, you think you can take me just because you broke a school record or two?" Dwight challenged.

"You're goddamn right I can," Lily responded, growing cockier by the second. She was a very competitive sportsman.

Just then, Luke caught sight of a car attempting to pull into the driveway, but its attempt to find a spot was to no avail. After a comical amount of time spent struggling with the parking arrangements, the passengers piled out and the driver drove off to find a place to park. "Hey Dwight, isn't that your cousin Jordin?" Luke asked, pointing at a boy slightly younger than Dwight who'd come from the car.

"Oh wow, that is Jordin. That kid's gotten tall since I saw him last. I'll be back in a little bit guys, gotta say hi to my family."

"You might be getting back a little later than you think. Looks like more people are showing up, and not very many are leaving," Aaron commented.

"Holy shit, I've got a lot of greeting to do. I'll meet back up with you guys in a little while."

"Alright man, just don't feel like you have to entertain us the whole time. These people came from all over the place to see you," Gavin said.

"Well, in that case, I'll come find you once the party's over. There's only like an hour and a half left before this thing ends."

"Sounds good, just don't forget about our game," Lily smirked.

"Not a chance," Dwight laughed. He then proceeded to head off in the direction of his new visitors, leaving his friends to socialize amongst one another.

 **(X)**

"I told you that you wouldn't be able to beat me, I'm the king of this sport," Dwight bragged to Lily.

"Whatever, we just let your team win the competition because this is your day," she teased back at Dwight and his teammates, Gavin, and Luke.

"If you really cared then you would carry this bat for me," Dwight said with a smirk.

"Shut up," Lily laughed.

"Hey Dwight, are you still up for some urban exploring?" Aaron asked

"Sure, you don't think we'd get in trouble with anyone for being in there though right? I mean, aside from the Klan members that probably live in this dump."

"I think we'll be fine, just bring the bat with you in case there's a crackhead or two in here," Aaron joked.

"I'm way ahead of you," Dwight said, twirling the bat in his hand as they all headed toward the school.

The ancient elementary school stood ominously against the dark treeline, it's shattered windows and flaking paint giving it an almost apocalyptic atmosphere. Vines crept up the sides of the building, and the lawn clearly hadn't been mowed in years. Miraculously, all of the doors were still intact and appeared to be locked, and several of the windows were actually barricaded by rotting boards, but most of them were wide open, just begging to be climbed through.

"So, where do we begin?" Luke asked.

"That one," Gavin said, pointing toward a window near the back entrance of the school. "That'll take us right into one of the old kindergarten rooms. We can make our way to the main hall from there."

"Hey guys, let's hurry this up, alright. I really don't want to be in this place after dark," Ethan said, nervously eyeing the setting sun.

"I think we can all agree with you on that one. This place gives me the creeps… always has," Gavin said.

"I thought you went to school here?" Lily questioned.

"I did, and it was a fun place to go, but there's just something about this building that hasn't felt right ever since those fourth-graders went missing in the woods. I think that might've been the reason this place shut down."

"It wasn't the only reason, but it was certainly part of it," Luke said.

"Can we stop with the spooky ghost stories? You guys are gonna make Ethan piss his pants before we even get inside," Aaron said, glancing at the notably nervous boy standing beside him.

"Just stick with me kid, I'll protect you," Dwight said, giving Ethan a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"I'm perfectly capable of keeping my little brother safe, thank you very much," Gavin said to Dwight.

"Yeah, but you don't have a baseball bat," Dwight responded.

"Whatever, let's just get this over with," Gavin said, approaching the window he'd pointed out earlier. The rest of the group followed him, taking turns climbing through.

"Watch the glass," Gavin advised.

Soon enough, all six of them had made their way inside the room. It was surprisingly lighter than they'd expected it to be, but they knew it wouldn't stay that way for long due to the sun's gradual descent below the horizon. The few rays of sunlight that remained illuminated threadbare carpets, dust-covered shelves, several broken chairs, rotted tables, peeling wallpaper, and wires hanging from the ceiling.

"Damn, this place looks just about as shitty as I thought it would," Luke commented.

"Yeah, and keep in mind this is only the first room," Aaron muttered.

"Hey guys, look at this creepy-ass thing," Ethan's voice piped up, already across the room. He was staring at an old teddy bear that was impaled through the neck on one of the dozens of coat hooks. The bear was tattered and torn, missing ears and limbs, as well as an eye, and stuffing spilled out of its many 'wounds'. Ethan promptly reached up and plucked the bear off of the hook, holding it by its remaining arm.

"Oh god, Ethan, put that thing down! It's probably crawling with lice!" Lily commanded.

"Gross!" Ethan shouted, flinging the bear aside and checking his hands for bugs.

"Well, this is off to a great start," Gavin said.

Soon enough, the group left the room and entered the main hallway, noting that not much was different aside from the cracked tile floor and rows of lockers on either side of the hall. They took their time exploring the rooms, making idle chit-chat as they went along, disappointed to find out just how boring the place actually was. Room after room went by, and nothing interesting came of it up until the very end. After checking over the gymnasium, which was small even by elementary school standards, Gavin pointed out that there was one room that they hadn't checked out yet; The library. They made their way to the library's ancient double doors, and Gavin pulled them open, revealing something that they hadn't quite expected.

"What in the goddamn shit is this?" Aaron spluttered, barely able to believe what he was seeing. All of the windows in the library were obscured by black tarps draped over aged boards nailed into the walls, and the only light in the room came from the now-open double doors. The room wasn't in nearly as poor of a condition as the rest of the school. The carpet was dirty but in a relatively good condition, there was no sign of inhabitation by animals, and the only real damage to the place was a few missing ceiling tiles. However, the main point of interest was not the room's good condition. Most of the bookshelves had been emptied of their contents and pushed up against the walls, clearing up a considerable amount of floor space in the center of the room. Dozens of unlit candles had been placed on the now-empty shelves, and the melted wax evidenced their previous use. Several long benches had been placed near the center of the room, and a wooden podium that held another unlit candle stood at the front. A small subsection of the room branched off to the right of the benches, appearing to be what was left of a computer lab. Oddly, there was little to no evidence of any computers. Instead, the area had been used to discard broken furniture, the books that had been stripped from the shelves, and several unused bookshelves that actually did a pretty good job of blocking the room off from sight.

"What the hell is this place?" Dwight asked.

"I don't know man, but you might have been right about the whole cultist thing after all. Check that out," Luke said, pointing to something behind the podium.

"Lily, do you have your phone on you?" Luke asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"Use its flashlight to shine behind that podium," Luke instructed.

When Lily turned on her flashlight, a collective gasp rang out as the dark splotch on the wall became clear. It was a massive mural of a pale, skinny, humanoid figure wearing a black suit and tie. Eerily, the figure had no hair or facial features of any kind, exhibiting only a blank stare. What appeared to be black branches extended from its back and spread to every wall, ensnaring the entire room in its painted grasp. Just to the side of the ominous painting was a phrase that was barely legible; _"Gorr'Rylaehotep"_.

"Uhh, guys is it just me… or is there a big-ass painting of Slenderman staring at us?" Aaron asked.

"It's not just you… what the hell is going on here? Is this supposed to be some kind of church?" Gavin asked.

"Hey, Gavin, who's Slenderman?" Ethan said to his brother.

"The Slenderman is basically an online urban legend," Gavin responded. "He's supposed to be this supernatural creature that abducts children and drives people insane. I don't really know much about it other than that it started when some guy calling himself 'Victor Surge' posted a couple of pictures of him as an entry for some photoshop contest".

"So, this thing isn't real then?" Ethan asked.

"No, but the dipshit who set this room up clearly thinks it is," Aaron said. "Slenderman is nothing more than a meme gone viral. There's all kinds of fake stories and YouTube videos saying they caught him on tape or that he's haunting someone. It's all bullshit."

"Yeah, don't sweat it, kid. The big bad bogeyman isn't gonna hurt you," Dwight said.

"Yeah, but whoever was dumb enough to make an altar for this thing might if they come back and find us in here," Lily commented. "I'm going to take some pictures of this place to show the police and then let's get the hell out of here."

"I'm starting to like that plan more and more," Luke said.

"Same," Aaron commented, but suddenly his attention was shifted to a book that stood out from all the others, set atop one of the benches.

"Gorr'Rylaehotep… what does that even mean? It sounds like some form of Egyptian…" Lily wondered aloud as she took a picture of the painting."

"I don't know about that, but I could use that flashlight again, Lily," Aaron said, picking up the book. As Lily came over and shined her light on it, Aaron got a much better look at the tome. It was a black A6 bonded leather notebook, complete with an elastic band to hold it shut. It looked relatively normal, except for a strange symbol scratched into the front cover. It appeared to be an elongated diamond with two straight lines drawn inside of it. One line was vertical and the other was horizontal, and both connected to two of the four angles within the diamond, intersecting inside of a circle drawn at the symbol's center. Eager to know more, Aaron slipped the band off of the front cover and opened it up to the first page. A title had been handwritten in cursive on the front pastedown; _"The Collective Knowledge"_.

Before Aaron could investigate any further, his blood ran cold and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. He slammed the book shut and stuffed it in his front pocket, motioning for everyone to hide behind the debris in the old computer lab. They all followed his instructions without question, as they'd all heard the marching footsteps approaching their location as well. Ethan quietly shut the double-doors before joining them, and they all sat in silence behind the ruined furniture and bookshelves, dreading what would happen next.

Seconds seemed like hours as the footsteps grew closer and closer before they finally reached the room. The double-doors were thrust open, and a group of cloaked individuals entered the room. The hooded robes they wore were pitch black and covered their entire body except for their hands. Their faces were obscured by white masks that all looked the same, and as the strangers began going around the room and lighting candles, the hidden teenagers realized that they were wearing Guy Fawkes masks that had been completely painted white. "Oh man… talk about drinking the Kool-Aid," Aaron whispered. After several minutes, all of the candles had been lit, and seven of the hooded people took their seats on the benches, leaving one to stand at the podium at the front of the room and begin the sermon.

This man appeared to be a higher ranking member of the group, as a violet cloth slung across his shoulders made him stand out from the others. Then, he began to speak; "My brothers and sisters, I thank you for your warm welcome. I apologize for the short notice of this meeting, and I am pleased that those of you before me were still able to make it here. Your fellow members who are currently absent will face no punishment, as this was a last-minute request."

"Thank you, Archvassal Hendrix," a woman near the front of the room said.

"Consider it common courtesy. Now then, I come here today bearing news regarding the Harbingers plaguing our brothers and sisters in the New Jersey Chapter of our Order, as well as information regarding the Second Cycle. But first, let us commence our gathering with a canticle I'm sure you all know well," the Archvassal announced, motioning for his followers to rise to their feet. They did so on command, and their leader began an unintelligible hymn, quickly being joined by his fellows in an eerie, yet somehow soothing song spoken in an unknown tongue.

"Lily… are you getting all of this?" Aaron whispered.

"Yeah… this is really creepy," Lily said as she filmed the ceremony on her phone.

"These people need to leave so we can get the hell out of here," Ethan whimpered.

"All we can do is wait them out. If we try to leave now, who knows what they'll do to us," Gavin whispered back. And so they waited for what felt like hours as the cultists finished their song and the Archvassal began his ceremony. He spoke of a great number of things that the friends didn't understand; the actions of two "Harbingers" in the East, the coming of the Second Dawn, The Fourth World, some sort of dimensional rift, and much, much more, including some sort of future process ominously titled "The Harvest". They did mention one thing that could be easily understood, however. They spoke of The Slenderman, or as they called him; "Gorr'Rylaehotep", as their master. It appeared that they worshipped him as some sort of Ancient Egyptian deity, but nobody other than the cultists understood anything further than that. Then, at long last, the black mass spoke their final words and rose to their feet, swiftly extinguishing the candles and leaving the room.

"Holy shit, I can't believe that just happened," Aaron said.

"Who do you think all those people were?" Lily asked, putting her phone back in her pocket.

"Who gives a fuck, let's get the hell out of here," Aaron responded. He received no arguments from any of his friends, and they all stealthily made their way to the double-doors, listening for voices or footsteps outside. Hearing nothing, they opened the door and stepped through into the darkness. The sun had long since abandoned them, which is perhaps why they walked right into that trap.

"Don't move another inch," a loud voice commanded, making them freeze in their tracks. Suddenly, a lantern illuminated the hallway, revealing that they were surrounded by the cultists. Standing at their front was Archvassal Hendrix, holding the lantern. His eyes were fierce behind his mask, and his followers were just as furious. "Did you really think we wouldn't notice our missing tome?" he asked.

"What are you talking about?" Gavin stuttered.

"You know exactly what I am referring to, and we will see that book returned one way or another, regardless of what we have to do to get it," Hendrix said, his voice full of venom.

"Look, man, no one took anything. We were just exploring this place and found your little 'worship room' by mistake. We never even had time to take anything because we heard you people coming as soon as we walked through those doors and hid behind the bookshelves," Aaron lied.

"I wouldn't tell lies if I were you, boy, unless you want to be the first to go," a female cultist said.

"Oh go fuck yourselves, all of you. You think you're some kind of new world order or something? Yeah, you guys sure are intelligent, worshipping somebody's art project. Smart, real smart… idiots." Aaron spat back.

"Woah, Aaron, calm down," Luke said, shocked by his friend's sudden outburst.

"You're gonna get us killed," Ethan whimpered.

"Hold your tongue, worm, before I cut it out," the Archvassal snarled, pulling a wicked blade from his robes and sending most of the teenagers into a panic.

"I've got one too, asshole," Aaron taunted, pulling a switchblade from his pocket, glaring into Hendrix's eyes.

"Put that bat down, now!" another cultist commanded.

"No, I don't think I will," Dwight said, casually twirling his weapon in his fingers.

"Guys, seriously, this is a bad idea," Lily trembled. "Come on, Gavin, say something! You're the oldest, so make them stop," Lily pleaded. Gavin, however, was incapable of giving a response, as he was petrified with fear, wholeheartedly believing that he was about to die.

"I would listen to your friends, outsiders. You might just make it out of here alive… if I decide to change my mind," Hendrix said, brandishing his knife. The other cultists suddenly broke out into an eerie chant; "Mortem Obire… Mortem Obire… Mortem Obire…" they continuously repeated while glaring at the intruders. Aaron and Dwight glanced at each other and gave a sly nod, before beginning to lower their weapons.

"Yeah, I guess we panicked a little and got carried away. I apologize," Aaron said. "It's just not every day that you come across something like- NOW!" Without hesitation, Dwight turned to his right and cracked one of the two cultists blocking their exit over the head with his bat, and Aaron stabbed the other one in the shoulder and threw him into the Archvassal.

"Fucking run!" Dwight shouted. Quickly realizing what had just happened, their stunned friends joined them without a moment's hesitation, and they all ran out of the back door before the cultists could process what they'd just done.

"You four, run them down and slaughter them all!" Hendrix shouted, pointing at four of his uninjured followers, who followed his orders immediately. "And you, help me get our wounded brothers some medical treatment," he said to the remaining cultist, as they each assisted a fallen comrade.

 **(X)**

"Nice fucking plan, you two. Now we can die in the woods instead of in a goddamn crackhouse!" Lily shouted.

"Hey, me and Aaron just saved everyone's lives! If we hadn't kept them talking long enough for us to find a way out, who knows what they would've done," Dwight responded.

"I think we know what they want to do now!" Luke yelled, glancing back at the four cultists chasing after them, weaving through trees and fallen branches.

"Well, then you two come up with a plan next time! And maybe if you'd all shut the hell up they wouldn't be able to follow us so easily!" Aaron argued.

"Good idea, but I've got an even better one. Split up and go with a partner if you can, if we do it fast enough they won't know who to follow! Once we lose them for good, meet up back at Dwight's house so we can call the cops," Gavin instructed.

"Good idea. Everybody grab someone and go! And stay quiet!" Luke commanded. And so, their group of six became three groups of two, with each pair splitting off into different directions with whoever they were closest to. It worked like a charm, as the cultists were far enough back that they had heard nothing of their conversation. Unfortunately, their main target had been paired with the loudest member of the group.

"Aaron, I don't want to die!" Ethan sobbed.

"Listen to me buddy, you have to be brave right now or we're both going to die. If you don't calm down you're going to give away our location," Aaron pleaded with him. "You have to be quiet or- Oh shit!" he gasped, looking back.

"What?" Ethan whimpered.

"Just keep running kid. Run as fast as you can," Aaron said, starting to panic after seeing all four of their pursuers closing in on them. "Ethan, just pretend this is one of your track meets, okay? Do that for me and we'll make it out of this, I promise you that!" he pleaded with the boy.

"I can do that, just stay with- Aaron!" Ethan screamed as his friend's footfalls landed too close to the edge of a stream, and he was sent tumbling down into the water below.

"Ethan run! Run and don't look back! I'll catch up to you!" Aaron spluttered, blinking through the cold water dripping from his hair. Ethan followed his instructions without question, and as Aaron stood back up in the ankle-deep water, the four cultists caught up with him, looking down at him from the stream bank.

"One of you kill him, right now!" the female screamed, and one of the cultists jumped down into the water with him, and the other three took off to pursue Ethan.

"You leave him alone!" Aaron shouted, intending to pursue the other three. But the fourth cultist kicked him in the chest, knocking him back into the water.

"Not so cocky now that you're flat on your ass with no way out," his assailant taunted.

"At least my girlfriend doesn't make me look like a bitch in front of my buddies like yours just did, or is that just the kind of thing you're into?" Aaron taunted back, stealthily digging his hand into the wet sand. With a furious roar, the cultist lunged forward, but Aaron flung a fistful of mud into his eyes and took off running back into the woods.

"You wretched little pissant! I'm going to cut your fucking throat out and nail you to a goddamn tree!" the cultist screamed, filled with a burning rage like never before. He quickly removed his mask to wash out his eyes with stream water, and then replaced it and followed the sound of Aaron's footsteps.

"Yeah, good luck with that," Aaron taunted, attempting to trip up his enemy by way of infuriation. Unfortunately, when he looked back, it appeared that he'd accomplished the exact opposite of what he'd hoped. "How the hell are you moving so fast in those robes?" Aaron panted. The only response he received was the cultist pulling a hunting knife from his cloak. Aaron knew that he couldn't run much longer. Even with all of the added adrenaline, his lungs were burning and his legs were starting to give out. "Just… a little… further…" he said, starting to slow down. His heart started pumping faster, and his eyes widened as he heard the cultist closing in on him as he rounded an oak tree.

"Aaron, duck!"

Aaron hit the ground like a stone and heard a hard thud as Dwight drove his baseball bat straight into the cultist's face, knocking him off his feet. He stood there poised to strike again, but the cultist did not move. "Thanks for that… but where are the others?" Aaron coughed out, panting and shaking on the ground.

"Gavin managed to get Lily and Luke back to the house so they could call the police. I stayed behind to find you and Ethan," he said, extending a hand. Aaron accepted the offer and was pulled to his feet, glancing down at his would-be killer. "You don't think he's dead… do you?" Dwight asked nervously.

"I doubt we're that lucky," Aaron responded. "But that's not important, we need to find Ethan right now. We got split up at the stream and he has three of those bastards following him."

"Shit, grab that guy's knife and lead the way back! We can follow their footprints!" Dwight commanded. Aaron did as he was told, and together, they ran off to rescue their friend.

 **(X)**

Breathing hard and growing exhausted, Ethan stumbled into a small clearing and hid behind a huge stump in order to catch his breath. He did his best to stay quiet, but it wasn't long before his pursuers burst into the clearing as well.

"Come on out before we drag you out, kid," a woman snarled. Ethan began to tremble as he heard their footsteps approaching his hiding spot, but suddenly, they stopped and were replaced with astonished gasps.

"It's him!"

"It's a miracle!"

"I wish the others were here to see this!"

Ethan had no idea what they were talking about, but he dared not do so much as peek at what was happening behind him.

"Please, my master, take us to The Fourth World!" someone pleaded excitedly. There was a short pause, and just as Ethan was considering making his escape, goosebumps shot up his arms and he began to tremble as agonized screams and the horrible sound of tearing flesh rang out through the forest. He didn't know how long he sat there with his eyes closed and ears plugged, trying to drown out the horrid noises. Then, a good five minutes after they'd finally ceased, Ethan stole a glance out from his sanctuary and nearly vomited at the sight of blood-soaked grass, the shreds of black robes, and pieces of white masks littering the ground. It was when he finally grew brave enough to investigate the carnage that he felt a dark presence behind him. He slowly turned around with tears welling up in his eyes, and let out a shriek when he saw the creature from the painting rise up from behind the stump and tower over him, its featureless face staring into his very soul. At first, Ethan felt dread, but then there was something else; comfort.

"You… saved me…" Ethan said. The Slenderman crouched down to Ethan's height and extended a pale, bony hand. After hesitating for a moment, Ethan took his hand, and they both vanished without a trace.


	2. Nightfall

"They still haven't found the kid then, huh?"

"Yeah, I'm starting to wonder if they're even looking anymore."

"And they're still convinced that the library you guys found isn't an actual worshipping ground, but that it was made by graffiti artists or pranksters… even after you showed them the video you guys took?"

"Yeah, that's what they've been saying, but it's bullshit. We knew damn well that the knives those bastards pulled on us were as real as their little ceremony. First, the police tell us that everything was probably just an elaborate prank, then they decide to take it seriously and actually confiscate Lily's phone as evidence, and believe me when I tell you that it's an understatement to say she was pissed about that one. Then, to top it all off they turn right back around and start spewing the same horseshit about not wasting their time with pranks. I just… I don't understand it, Kelsey. Why is it so hard for them to believe that we were attacked?"

"I don't know, honestly. I wasn't even sure I believed it at first until you showed me that book you found. Speaking of which, did you ever end up showing that to the police?" the girl responded, doing her best to console her boyfriend.

Aaron stopped pacing the room for a moment and looked back at his girlfriend, thankful to have somebody to talk to for a change. She sat on the living-room couch, looking up at him with concern in her hazel eyes. Her curled blonde hair fell down to just below her shoulders, and the gray sweatpants and black tank top adorning her athletic build made its light color stand out even more so than usual. Despite being only four months older than him, Kelsey Anderson acted like an adult rather than the teenager she was and had become the one person that Aaron could trust wholeheartedly to be there for him in his time of need. When he'd first met her during sophomore year, he never would have imagined that their friendship would evolve into something much more, but he was grateful for it every day, now more than ever.

"We need to face the facts, Kelsey, Ethan is probably dead. There is no way a twelve-year-old kid survives on his own in the forest for two months. They're just looking for remains at this point."

"Yeah… I know," Kelsey said with a sigh. "Just don't say that in front of Gavin or his family."

"I don't even want to think about what he'd do if I told him that. He damn near broke my nose when I told him I lost his brother… this is all my fault. If I hadn't dragged everybody into that stupid ass school, we wouldn't be in this mess."

"Ok, seriously, you need to stop blaming yourself for this. How were you supposed to have any idea that this kind of thing would happen? I don't give a shit what Gavin says, none of the others blame you for what happened, and I sure as hell don't either," Kelsey stated firmly.

"It's not that simple…" Aaron began, before being cut off.

"No, it is that simple. I've heard the stories you guys told, and I don't remember anybody saying they objected to going to that place."

"Ethan did," Aaron responded glumly. "Maybe if I'd listened to him he'd still be alive…"

Kelsey looked up at him for a few moments, frustrated, and then sighed. "Aaron, even if you were to blame for getting everybody into that situation, which you're not, that doesn't change the fact that you and Dwight saved their lives. I mean, for god's sake you're the only reason Ethan got a fighting chance. I heard what you did at that creek, and even if it didn't work like you wanted it too, you still bought the kid some time. And you know what, even when you and Dwight had the chance to run away, you kept looking for him. None of the others did that. They have no right to judge you," Kelsey finished, hopeful that she'd finally made her point.

Aaron, who had long since stopped pacing the room and sat down on the couch beside her, began to open his mouth but stopped, and his somber expression was replaced with a halfhearted grin. "Thank you, Kelsey, for everything. Truth be told, you're the only one I've really been able to talk to about this whole thing. My parents are helpful but I can't be this open with them, and my little brother and sisters are too young to hear about all of this. I mean, Mikey knows a little bit about what's going on, but he doesn't know how Ethan went missing. He just thinks he got lost playing in the woods. But Sam and Jane… I don't think those two even know about this, and I'm thankful for that. They're barely old enough to know about PG-13 movies, let alone some poor kid being lost in the woods for two months. I just… I hope you understand how much it means to me that I can come to you with all of this. I can only handle so much of this shit on my own, you know? I don't want those kids seeing their big brother this way."

"You know I'm always going to be here for you," she responded. "Now, can we please celebrate your birthday already? You've been sixteen for nine days and you've barely acknowledged it. I don't want the gift I got you to just sit here until the end of time," Kelsey asked, smiling at her boyfriend.

"Yeah, I think I can manage that," Aaron responded, giving her a smirk back. "But it'll have to wait a little while longer, I have to head into work in like forty-five minutes and I should really be getting ready for my shift."

Kelsey let out an annoyed groan and said; "Nothing is simple with you, you know that?" while trying not to smile. "Just make sure you don't forget, this is important to me," she said as they both stood up and made their way to the door.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to. I'll see you then," he responded and kissed her goodbye, then headed out the door. He started up his truck and pulled out of the driveway, heading into town. As he weaved his way through the streets of neighborhoods, he caught sight of Pineview Elementary out of the corner of his eye. A familiar sense of guilt washed over him, and before he'd even thought about it his decision was made. He looked at the console, which had; "4:11 PM, August 26th" displayed in bright green letters. "...Well shit," he said, pulling into the school's driveway. "I've got plenty of time to check the woods out. We didn't go too deep into them from what I remember," he mumbled, "If the cops can't be bothered to find Ethan's body, then I'll do it myself… I just hope those psychos don't come back." After driving behind the building to avoid being seen, he stepped out of the truck and locked the doors, making sure his switchblade was in his pocket before walking toward the treeline.

It was a different place during the day. Bright beams of sunlight shone through the gaps in the trees, and birds flew by overhead squawking happily in the warm summer air. A gentle breeze blew through the forest, swaying the grass and rustling the leaves on the trees. Unseen cicadas sang their songs from old branches while crickets chirped in the grass, and the gentle trickle of a familiar creek grew louder and louder as Aaron approached the oh-so-familiar location. Under any other circumstances he would've found himself soothed by the sounds and smells of nature, but things were different here. Goosebumps dotted his arms and a chill ran down his spine as repressed memories of that fateful night came flooding back to him. Paranoia began to set in, and more than once he found himself looking over his shoulder in a panic, convinced that he was being watched. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea…" he muttered as he walked alongside the creek bed, stopping momentarily to look at the place he'd fallen in.

"Keep it together, Aaron. The worst thing that might be out here right now is a wolf or two." He let out a chuckle immediately after saying that, and followed up on his statement with; "It's pretty fucked up that the idea of running into a wolf actually made me feel more comfortable." After his momentary break was over, he mustered his courage and continued onward, following a rough path that he and Gavin had established the last time they'd come looking for Ethan. The search had been different then, as despite the obvious tension between the two boys, they had each other's backs. That, and Aaron had apologized to Gavin and his family so many times that most of the hostility was gone, and his friend just felt bad for him at this point. Gavin may have been furious with Aaron for the first week or so, but it hadn't taken long for him to come to terms with the fact that he was equally guilty for what had happened. They both had failed Ethan, and they both had been trying to make things right ever since.

It didn't take long for him to come across the same clearing that Ethan's trail went cold in. He knew that the cops had failed to track the boy beyond this place, but Aaron had never actually been there himself. "Alright, better make this quick," he mumbled, well aware that he was running out of time to get to work. He scouted the area as much as he could but was incapable of finding anything other than wildflowers, grass, and an old stump that sat atop a small hill. Aaron went to take a seat by the stump, and as he leaned up against it, he saw something peculiar. A small symbol that resembled two intersecting eyes had been carved into the bark. He thought at first that it was just a weird pattern in the wood, but quickly threw out that theory when he identified the obvious cuts. Curiously, he reached toward the stump, and when his fingers brushed over the symbol a sudden sense of dread washed over him. In a split-second, the world was turned upside-down. Everything had become pitch black, and he couldn't see more than a few inches in front of his face. A haunting, distorted tune floated through the air, and it had become so cold that he could see his breath. Aaron threw himself away from the stump, yelling in shock. Then, as soon as he blinked again, everything abruptly went back to normal, with no trace of whatever hell he'd just witnessed to be found. "I'm losing my damn mind," he gasped, taking a few deep breaths to steady himself.

After several minutes of letting the shock fade, Aaron stood himself back up, convinced that he was just hallucinating because of the stress he was under. Suddenly, his phone went off, alerting him to the fact that he had fifteen minutes to get to work on time. "Shit," he muttered and began walking back in the direction of his car. Then, he noticed something that he hadn't before; a cracked cultist mask laying in the dirt beneath an old tree. Curious, Aaron picked it up, examining the deep crack that ran right down the center of its face. But then he stopped, for a droplet of red had fallen from above and landed on the mask. His heart pounded as he slowly shifted his gaze upward, and when he saw the gruesome sight above, he stood frozen in horror. He wanted to scream, but no sound would come out. All Aaron could do was stand there and tremble, before finally doubling over and retching in the grass, and continuing to do so for several minutes. The run-in with the cultists was nothing compared to what he was currently witnessing. Near the top of the old tree hung the rotting corpse of Ethan Miller, skewered through the stomach by a jagged branch. The boy's intestines dangled from his open wounds like streamers and his eyes had been ripped out of his face, presumably by the crows that were feasting on his rotting flesh. "Oh god… Ethan…" Aaron managed to choke out between sobs and vomiting.

He staggered to his feet and stumbled into the woods, not looking back out of fear of seeing Ethan like that again. He whipped his phone out and dialed 911. "I need to report a dead body," he choked out, "In the woods behind Pinewood Elementary. It's the missing boy." Before the operator could ask him anything more, he hung up the phone and started running through the woods. However, his luck was about to turn even worse. The feeling of being watched returned stronger than ever, as well as the familiar symptoms that came with it. Aaron could make no mistake now, he could definitely see his breath in the air despite how warm it was. The combination of fear, trauma, and paranoia rendered him all but paralyzed, and all he could do was pivot on the spot, desperately searching for the source of the feeling. Then, he finally spotted it, and his heart sank. An unnaturally tall, humanoid figure was slowly making its way through the distant trees, a swarm of black tentacles hanging in the air around it like a dark cloud and snaking through the overgrown branches. It wore a pitch-black suit, dress pants, and dress shoes, as well as a white undershirt and a crimson tie. The creature's arms nearly came down to its knees, and its clammy skin was deathly pale. Its bony hands had long, slim fingers, and it had no facial features of any kind. Aaron knew what he was looking at as soon as he spotted it. It was the demon that he'd seen so many times while browsing horror stories on the internet, the thing he'd watched supposedly fake videos of and joked about with his friends, the one that those cultists who'd gotten him into this mess in the first place worshipped… Aaron was staring down the Slenderman itself, an urban legend come to life, and he could already feel a headache coming on due to its presence. "No fucking way…" he stammered.

Aaron stood there frozen in terror, before finally recovering enough sense to try to flee. He took a step back, then another, and another… when suddenly, the demon appeared right in front of him. Before he even had the chance to scream, the Slenderman seized Aaron by the left side of the head, its bony fingers digging into his skin. The mother of all migraines immediately shot through his head, nearly succeeding in knocking him off his feet on the spot. Blood ran freely from his nose and ears, and he trembled and quaked like a leaf in the wind. Aaron could do little more than make a choking, gurgling noise as he slowly slumped to the ground, managing to steady himself on one knee as he looked up in silent horror. He could hear nothing but eerie whispers and disembodied screaming, feel nothing but a biting cold combined with a fierce burn, and see nothing but dark splotches and small pinpricks of light. It felt as if his brain was crawling out of his skull, his heart was slowly decaying, and his very bone structure was cracking all at once. Perhaps it was the feeling of complete agony that rendered him blissfully unaware that the veins in the left side of his face had turned blacker than the darkest night. The longer the demon clung on to him, the further the effect spread, eventually turning every vein in his face black and reaching both of his eyes, turning them milky white. He couldn't hold out for much longer… he knew that much even with the absence of rational thought. He was going to die in these woods at the hands of something that shouldn't even exist. But then, as suddenly as the creature had struck, it released its grip on the teen and let him fall to the ground, taking a few steps back. It watched as the writhing boy continued to experience the worst of the sickness before surprisingly, he slowly began to recover. The trembling came to a steady halt, the sounds ringing in his ears began to go away, and the blood miraculously stopped flowing. Even the blackened veins and haunted eyes were slowly returning to their normal appearance.

Eventually, Aaron managed to recover enough motor skills to climb up onto all fours, before heaving up a combination of blood, bile, and a strange black liquid into the dirt. "What did you do to me?" he barely managed to choke out, a strand of blackened spit hanging from his mouth. The creature gave no response. It simply tilted its head for a moment or two before vanishing into thin air, leaving Aaron with enough mental trauma to land him in a psychiatric ward. "Can't stay here…" he moaned, crawling toward a nearby tree. When he finally reached it, he grabbed a low hanging branch and managed to pull himself up onto unstable legs, and began stumbling in the general direction he thought his car was in. Slowly but surely he was making progress, but not fast enough. His vision was going blurry again, and a low ringing in his ears steadily increased in pitch. His skin was as cold as ice, and his breathing was short and raspy. He could hear his heart pounding, and feel his lungs burning. He didn't stop to think about what just happened, the only thing he could understand was the need to escape. Then, he began hearing muffled voices and heard a distorted siren in the distance. Suddenly, he was grabbed by something, but just as he began to fear the worst, his gaze shifted upward to see a police officer holding him upright, practically shouting to try and get his attention. "Help," Aaron groaned, before finally losing consciousness. Had it not been for the officer supporting his weight, he would've fallen face-first into the same creek where the whole nightmare began.

 **(X)**

It would be several hours later before the battered, traumatized teen began to show signs of life again. He awoke to a blurry, white light before his vision finally cleared up, and he realized he was laying in a hospital bed. With a groan, he sat himself up and began to look around, before he was forced back against the bed by two small figures leaping onto him. "The hell…" he mumbled, more confused than anything.

"Are you going to die?"

"The doctors said you had a seizure!"

"Jane! Sam! Get off of your brother before you send him right back into a coma!" a female voice rang out. Aaron watched in amusement as his two little sisters sheepishly climbed back down to the ground after their mother's scolding, while Michael watched the spectacle with a grin on his face.

"I told you mom would get mad if you jumped on him," the boy said.

"I swear I can't take you kids anywhere without you turning it into a jungle gym," she scolded, trying her best not to smile at their antics. "How are you feeling, honey?" she asked.

"Like shit," he answered.

"Language. There's little ears around," a familiar voice teased from his left.

"Oh, hey Kelsey, when did you get here?" Aaron asked with a grin, looking over to the left. His girlfriend, who'd been leaning against a wall, walked over and kissed him on the forehead, prompting mixed reactions from his younger siblings.

"About the same time they did. I take it you had quite the shift?" she teased. "Oh, and nice gown by the way," she said, gesturing toward the hospital gown he was dressed in and grinning from ear-to-ear.

"Very funny," he smirked, "This is what I get for trying to be a good samaritan… All banged up and stuck wearing this stupid thing."

"Hey Aaron, what did happen out there man? What'd you see in the woods?" Mike asked.

"I… can't really remember," he lied, not wanting to scar his siblings for life with the tale. After seeing the disappointed looks on their faces, he gave his mother and Kelsey a quick wink to let them know he didn't actually have amnesia. However, he regretted it as soon as he did, as both of their faces fell upon learning that he remembered the horror he'd been through. Suddenly, he remembered something.

"Hey, where's Dad… and where's the doctor?" he asked.

"He's outside talking with the police. A few detectives showed up half an hour ago and they've been waiting to talk to you ever since. Your dad had a few choice words for them…" his mom trailed off, confirming his suspicions that his parents and girlfriend knew all about what happened with Ethan.

"Wait, you said they showed up half an hour ago… How long have I been out for?"

"...Two days," Kelsey answered.

"Two whole days? What the hell caused that?" he asked in shock.

"The paramedics said you were in and out of consciousness on the ride to the hospital, but then you had a seizure and wouldn't wake up. We all thought you might be in a coma, and nobody had a clue how long you'd stay that way because the doctors couldn't find anything wrong with you, and then…" his mom said, tears beginning to well up in her eyes. "And then they took your vital signs and… it didn't look good."

"What do you mean?"

"Aaron it… it looked like you were hit by a truck. Whatever happened to you out there almost killed you. They were ready to take you off of life support when somehow you just bounced back, and nobody knows how it happened. The doctors called it a medical miracle." Kelsey answered, clearly just as upset as Aaron's mother.

"How is that possible?" he muttered, trying to make sense of everything. He sat there for a moment in silence, sharing a concerned look with them both before speaking up again.

"Hey, you should let those cops in. I want to talk to them," Aaron said.

"Are you sure?" his mother asked, wiping her eyes.

"Yeah, as sure as I'll ever be," he responded.

"Okay, hold on a minute," she said, walking toward the door. "Frank, he's awake," she said to her husband. Without a word, he came bolting into the room, stopping when he saw his son sitting up in bed looking perfectly healthy.

"How are you feeling, son?" he asked.

"Better now that I'm not dying," Aaron responded.

"Good," he said with a smile, "Do you need anything from me? Are you hungry? Thirsty maybe?"

"If this place has a vending machine…" Aaron began but was interrupted by a doctor and two detectives walking into the room.

"Aaron Ross, I'm Detective Simmons and this is my partner Detective Cooper," the man said, gesturing to the woman standing beside him.

"We just wanted to ask you a few questions about what you saw in the woods when you found the body," Detective Cooper said.

"You found a body?" Mike asked.

"Ok, I think now would be a good time to take the kids home. What do you think Rachel?" Aaron's father said to his wife.

"I don't think any of them need to hear this. It'll probably give them nightmares. Why don't you take Jane, Mike, and Sam now, and I'll take Aaron home when he's allowed to leave," she responded.

"That would be preferable since you all really shouldn't be here for this anyway. Classified information and all that," Detective Simmons said. "Technically the only ones who should be here for this are the two of us, Dr. Morris, and your son. You're welcome to wait outside until this is over. It shouldn't take long."

"Alright, we'll see you two at home then. Come on, you three," Frank said, and he and his three youngest children left the room, followed by Rachel and Kelsey. Finally, once the door closed and the only ones left were those who were necessary, the questioning began.

"So as my partner said before, we'd like to know what happened in those woods," Simmons said.

"Well at this rate I'm guessing you probably know more than I do, but I suppose I can go over it again. I went over to Pinewood about half an hour before I had to go to work to look for Ethan, since your department was doing such a shit job at it, and parked behind the school. I went into the forest and found my way back to the stream that those psychos chased me into when this all started, and from there I managed to find my way into the clearing where his body ended up being. I hope you guys weren't hoping to hear a more exciting story because that's all there is to it," Aaron finished.

"Well that seems pretty accurate from what we've gathered so far, but tell me, at what point did you start seeing this 'Slenderman' character?" Cooper asked.

"How did you know about that? Aaron growled.

"You were apparently mumbling and babbling about him when the paramedics loaded you into the ambulance. We figured you'd seen something out there to freak you out into thinking that man was real. You do know he's just a story, right?" Simmons asked.

"Believe me, pal, I'm well fucking aware," Aaron lied, not wanting to sound insane.

"Take it easy, son, they're just evaluating whether or not your perception of reality was influenced by the traumatic event. You could very well have PTSD from this," Dr. Morris said.

"Mr. Ross, is there any particular reason you had something like that on your mind at a time like this?"

"I don't know honestly. I'd imagine it has something to do with the fact that those damn cultists worshipped the thing or the stories about how he impales his victims on trees. Must've been in the back of my mind."

"Would you care to clear something up for us?"

"Shoot," he responded.

"Was the idea of the urban legend simply on your mind at the time, or did you actually think you saw this man during these events?" Cooper asked, knowing she'd guessed correctly when she saw the boy's face turn pale.

"If by see it you mean hallucinate, then yeah, I saw it alright. And before you even ask, there's no way it was somebody dressed up like him or something. It was way too tall and looked like a goddamn monster stalking me from the shadows. But I was hallucinating a lot when I saw the body. Hell, I even saw some kind of fucked up parallel dimension. I guess that's what seeing the two-month-old corpse of one of your best friends does to you."

"I see. Now, what was this other dimension like? Was it perhaps some form of refuge from the trauma you'd just experienced?" Simmons asked.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Aaron asked, anger beginning to show in his voice.

"We're simply trying to evaluate your mental state to determine if your testimony will hold any ground in court. And do try to be less aggressive with us, Mr. Ross. You are aware that you could still be charged with entering a crime scene, aren't you? We're just trying to help, but if you insist on making this difficult for us, we can make things just as difficult for you," Simmons lectured.

"First of all, I don't remember there being any yellow tape. Second, where the fuck do you get off threatening me like that? I did a better job of finding the kid over the course of twenty minutes than you people did in two months. It's funny how you care so much more now that there's cameras on you," Aaron spat.

"Okay, lets all just take a minute to calm down," Cooper said, giving the teenager a chance to get his emotions back in check.

"I'm sorry, I know you guys are trying to help, but… why couldn't you have just found Ethan two months ago?" Aaron asked. "Why did I have to be the one to find his rotting corpse that way? I mean… you guys are probably trained and used to this shit. I'm just some guy."

"What can I say, kid? Shit happens," Cooper answered, a look of pity on her face. "What matters right now is that we help you and everyone else involved with this, so why don't you just help everyone involved with this out and answer our questions."

"...That place I saw, I don't even know how to describe it. It was dark, completely dark, and it was so cold. I felt nothing but dread the entire time I was there, and seconds felt like minutes. It was awful," Aaron muttered. "God help me, but I think I might've seen the Fourth World."

"The Fourth World? You mean that so-called plane of reality that these cultists are obsessed with getting to? How do you know about that?" Simmons questioned.

"I read about it in their weird little cult bible that I found at the school. How did _you_ know about that?" Aaron asked.

"We've been doing research into this case ourselves," Cooper answered.

"That's… funny. I thought you people didn't believe us when we told you about a cult," Aaron said, slightly confused.

"Just because we acted like nothing was wrong doesn't mean we actually thought that. It's called confidentiality, and more importantly, keeping the peace. How do you think the people in this town would react to finding out there's a bunch of masked lunatics running around in their backyards?" Cooper said.

"Fair enough," Aaron responded.

"Anyway, you shouldn't even have that. You were supposed to hand in any and all evidence during the initial questioning phase when this all started. I suggest you bring that little souvenir down to the station as soon as possible if you don't want any legal problems," Simmons warned.

"Not gonna happen, officer. I get the whole 'safety in secrecy' thing, but we trusted you once with video evidence already, and as far as I know, that'll never see the light of day again," Aaron said.

"Kid," Simmons began, a serious look on his face; "I am done playing these games with you. Do as we ask or you're not going to like what happens."

"You can kiss my ass, Simmons. Unlike your partner there, you're about as likable as a junkyard dog," Aaron said, grinning slightly. "You know what? I think I'll go to the press with this first thing in the morning just to show everyone what an awesome job you've all been doing."

"Listen you little shit-" Simmons growled, approaching the wounded teenager before being stopped by the doctor.

"Detective!" Dr. Morris shouted; "Now would be a good time for you to leave. My patient has been through enough without having to listen to you threaten him.

"I'm so sorry, doctor. Forgive my partner, it's been a stressful couple of days," Cooper said, leading Simmons out the door.

"Thanks for that, doc," Aaron said; "That guy's a real piece of work."

"Don't mention it. Detective Simmons has a long track record of unprofessional behavior," he said, a visible scowl on his face. "Anyway, I reckon we can send you back home tonight as long as you pass a few tests. We couldn't find anything wrong with you physically after that whole vital scare, but I think it would be a good idea for you to seek psychiatric help. What you saw is something that most adults can't handle."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea to me too. What kind of tests are you talking about though?"

"Just a few basic things, such as evaluating your level of memory loss, if any. It's my understanding that you had a seizure in the ambulance, and those have been known to cause that kind of thing."

"Well then, let's get this over with," Aaron agreed.

"Alright, first question," Dr. Morris began, picking up a clipboard to jot down notes, "What year is it?"

"2012," Aaron said.

"Good, now, do you remember how old you are, or for that matter, how old your siblings are?" the doctor asked.

"I'm sixteen, Sam's seven, Jane's ten, and Mikey's twelve… How long is this gonna take?" Aaron asked.

 **(X)**

The tests went better than expected, with Aaron passing them with no issues whatsoever. After a discussion with Dr. Morris about finding him a therapist, Aaron was released from the hospital and allowed to go home. As Aaron, his mother, and Kelsey made their way out to the parking lot, Kelsey stopped Aaron before he could get in the car with his mom. She then got retrieved something from her car, which was revealed to be a small, wrapped box; the birthday present she'd been wanting to give Aaron since the 17th. When he opened it, he was excited to see that it was a wristwatch that he'd had his eye on and thanked Kelsey while he put it on his left wrist. She then revealed that she was going to bring the cake she'd been talking about too, but it had gotten stale during the days he was comatose. It took very little convincing for Aaron to get her to agree that they'd just go out to dinner somewhere instead and order dessert, as it would be much less of a hassle. Finally, they said their goodbyes and Aaron got in the car with his mom, Kelsey got in her own, and everyone went their separate ways. However, just as Aaron's mom pulled into their driveway and he was told that his father had driven his car back to their house from the school, his cellphone buzzed. When he took a look at the screen, it was revealed to be a text from Gavin. _"Just heard you were awake. How are you holding up?" it read._

 _"Better than I probably should be. What about you?"_

 _"Shitty. Mom's barely stopped crying since we got the news. Having to go down to the station to ID the body killed her. I'm not doing too much better myself."_

 _"I would imagine. This kind of thing isn't just something you can shake off."_

 _"Yeah. Listen, man, I don't have much time to chat right now, just wanted to check in on you to see how you were doing. We can talk more tomorrow, but make sure you let everyone else know how you're doing too. They've been worried sick about you."_

 _"Sounds good man… And I'm sorry about your brother. He didn't deserve that, and neither do you and your mom."_

 _"Thank you. I'll tell her you send your condolences."_

After receiving that final message from Gavin, he put his phone back in his pocket and made his way up the driveway with his mom. All he could think of was taking this story to the papers the next day and putting an end to the cult that had disrupted his life and gotten an innocent child killed. Although Aaron knew the truth, he knew he couldn't admit to anybody that he suspected the Slenderman of killing Ethan. He'd just have to play along and blame the cult, keeping that wretched secret bottled up inside.

 **(X)**

It would only be a few hours later, on the morning of August 29th, that Aaron's world would be flipped upside-down. It was about 1:00 AM when he was awoken by a strange sensation as if somebody was standing over him. He opened his eyes slightly to peek out at his bedroom, and immediately noticed a dark silhouette standing near his bed. He held his breath, and froze for a moment or two, not wanting to alert the stranger that he knew of their presence. Then, he noticed a wicked-looking machete held in the stranger's right hand, the blade shining in the dim light of his alarm clock. Stealthily, Aaron began to creep his hand up under his pillow, reaching for the hunting knife that he'd had hidden under there since the day he'd first encountered the cult. Slowly, slowly he inched his way toward it, finally feeling the hilt under his fingertips. Then, to his horror, the stranger began to raise the machete, positioning it above his neck. Quicker than a striking snake, Aaron ripped the knife out from under his pillow and stabbed it into the guts of his attacker.

The figure dropped his weapon and made a pained, gurgling sound before falling to the ground, clutching the knife that still protruded from his stomach. Practically hyperventilating, Aaron shot up out of bed and backed up against the opposite wall, dressed in nothing but a T-shirt and boxers, doing his best not to lose it. He couldn't take his eyes away from the fallen figure squirming on the ground as blood rapidly oozed out of him. He couldn't move, couldn't speak, and could barely breathe. The more he stared at the sight before him, the more nauseous he grew, and the double vision he was experiencing only made him want to vomit even more. Then finally, mercifully, the attacker took his last, painful breath, and moved no more. The boy's ears rang loudly, and his heart pumped so fast that it was painful when he finally realized with horror that he'd just killed a man. His stomach churned as he pressed himself back against the wall and slid down to the ground, quaking and sweating like never before. He sat there for what felt like hours, staring at the still corpse on his bedroom floor, unable to believe what he'd just done. It was shortly after that he grew brave enough to take a closer look at his victim, and discovered the terrible truth; this man was a cultist and was wearing the mask and robes to prove it. That's when Aaron realized with horror that there were almost definitely more of them in his house.

He quickly maneuvered around the body and threw on a pair of sweatpants, doing his best to push all of his conflicting emotions into the back of his head until he figured out if his family was safe. Knowing that he would need a weapon, he picked up the cultist's fallen machete, feeling nauseous as he stared at the red tide seeping into his carpet. "Pull yourself together," he murmured, "Your family's in trouble." After composing himself as best as he could, Aaron crept over to his bedroom door and peeked out into the hallway, catching his breath when he saw another cloaked figure. However, this one had their back turned to him, and wasn't doing much other than standing there, a knife in their hand. Aaron began to shake again, and he could feel a familiar heat coming over him, before whispering to himself in a raspy breath; "Kill or die." Slowly, he made his way over to the cultist, careful to look around corners and make sure there were no others. He was in the clear. Just as he got close enough to touch the cultist, the floorboard beneath him creaked and the man whipped around, but his efforts were in vain. Aaron slashed through the exposed neck between his mask and robes, nearly severing the man's head in the process. Aaron began to let out an audible whimper when he saw how wide the man's eyes had become, and the gurgling sound he was making as his dying body hit the ground nearly made the boy puke. For the sake of his sanity, Aaron tried his best to ignore the warm blood that now speckled his shirt and face.

He weaved his way through the hallways, barely holding back tears as he tried not to think about the two lives he'd just taken. However, things only got worse when he made his way to the rooms of each of his family members. There was nothing. No blood, no sign of a struggle, nothing. His heart began to sink as he realized the implications this may have and fought with all his might not to think about the terrible things that might have taken place while he slept. He made his way to his parents' room, knowing that his dad kept a Glock 17 9mm handgun for home defense in his dresser drawer. Sure enough, it was there, loaded and ready to go. Aaron discarded the bloodsoaked machete he held and picked up the gun, turning the safety off and holding it in front of him as he crept through the house. He'd shot handguns several times before, but never at a live target. "If I can gut a man and cut another's throat, this should be a piece of cake," he whispered to himself, trying anything to help him through this. It wasn't until he went downstairs and saw the living room that he finally lost it. With a scream filled with rage and heartbreak, he fired the gun three times into the cultist standing in the middle of the room, dropping her on the spot. The little girl she'd been holding a knife to, his seven-year-old sister Samantha, came running into his arms, screaming and crying, and when Aaron held her in his arms he couldn't stop the tears from flowing no matter how hard he tried to be strong for her. They sat there huddled in the center of that room crying their eyes out, surrounded by the mutilated corpses of the rest of their family members.

"Sammy… we have to go," he choked out.

"But… but Mommy and Daddy… and Mikey and Jane… they're…" she started, trying to talk amidst her sobs.

"We can't stay here Sam, we have to go to the police right now. Don't you leave my sight, okay? I'll keep you safe." The terrified girl nodded and clung to her older brother's leg as they made their way to the front door. Around corners and hallways they walked, Aaron holding the gun in front of him, ready to kill anything that moved. They made it to the door without incident, and Aaron told his sister to let go of him, as they would need to run soon. "You stay right here, got it? I'm going to grab my car keys," he whispered and crept toward the key rack near the kitchen. However, just as he was reaching for the keys, he heard the sound of a scream cut short, and a terrible chill ran down his spine. He turned around and looked on in horror as a cultist who'd been hiding in the shadows ripped his knife out of Sam's back, and let her lifeless body fall to the floor.

"NO!" Aaron roared, firing the remaining two bullets into the masked man's guts. As the man hit the floor, Aaron charged at him with murder in his eyes, having finally snapped entirely. "You son of a bitch!" he yelled, kneeling down on the cultist's chest; "I want to see your face when you die!" However, when he ripped the mask off of the fallen man, the only emotion the broken teenager felt was shock. "You?" he stammered in disbelief, looking down at the agonized face of Detective Simmons as blood leaked from his mouth.

"Please… please don't… Please don't," Simmons whimpered, a fear like he'd never felt before surging through him.

"You," Aaron said in a dark tone as pure rage replaced his surprise. Without another word, he raised the empty gun up high and brought it down on Simmons' head. Blood spurted everywhere, and Aaron barely got a look at the detective turned cultist's popped eyeball before bringing the gun down again, and again, and again… sobbing between blows until he'd successfully caved in the top right section of the Simmons' head. Something broke inside of Aaron Ross that night, something that could never be fixed, but he didn't care anymore. His family was gone, his life as he knew it was over, and he knew what he had to do. He cast the gun aside and stood back up, his arms, hands, face, and shirt drenched in blood, and made his way back through the house unmasking the other three cultists. As he'd suspected, the woman he'd shot in the living room was none other than Detective Cooper. The other two he didn't recognize, but their identities didn't matter to him. Now numb to the emotions he'd been overtaken by mere minutes ago when he'd first woken up, he made his way to the bathroom and stripped off his bloodstained clothes, getting in the shower and taking his time washing all of the gore off of himself.

Half an hour later, he finally emerged and made his way to his room, avoiding the messes he'd made. He threw on a fresh pair of clothes, his class ring, and the watch given to him by Kelsey, before going around the house and packing anything he deemed useful into his duffel bag. Once it was all said and done, he loaded the bag into his car and turned it on before heading back into his house one last time. He grabbed the bottles of lighter fluid that his dad kept in the garage and emptied them throughout the house, making sure not to miss a single room or body, not even the bodies of his family. In his mind, this was the only course of action available since the police department was compromised by the cult, so he couldn't go to them, and he wasn't just going to let the bodies of his family rot on the ground. His house wasn't close to the city, so there would be no way for the fire department to get there in time to save it. It all had to go. He made a trail of lighter fluid to the front door and threw the last bottle deeper into the house, before taking out a lighter. When he flicked it on, he saw a familiar tall figure standing in front of him in the hallway. He stared the Slenderman down, strangely feeling no pain or discomfort in His presence. The creature simply walked toward him, crouched down to his level, and held out its hand. **_"Come with me,"_** it spoke in a soothing tone, broadcasting its voice into his head. Aaron took one look at the outstretched hand before giving his answer; "Go to Hell."

On that final note, he tossed the lighter into the house and ducked out the door as an inferno engulfed his home. The Slenderman stood back up and folded His arms behind his back as he watched Aaron get in his truck and drive off, not surprised in the slightest that the boy had been able to resist him so easily after what had happened in the woods. **_"This will be fascinating to watch unfold,"_** the beast thought to itself.

 **(X)**

Aaron had thought long and hard about the letter he'd written to Kelsey, and longed to see her before doing what he knew had to be done, but he couldn't. As far as he could tell, her house was untouched by the cult, and he knew that if he walked up to those doors, he wouldn't be able to leave, and then she and her family would befall the same fate that his had. For him, leaving a heartfelt letter for her to find in her mailbox was going to have to be good enough. After that matter was settled, he continued on with his newfound mission, and it wasn't long before he pulled into the driveway of the Miller family. He parked near the road to avoid disturbing anyone and walked around the back of the house. Gavin shot up in bed after hearing the knock on his window and took a moment to realize that Aaron was standing outside of it. He switched on a lamp and walked over to his friend, opening the window so they could talk. "Dude, it's like 2:30 in the morning, what the hell are you doing here?" he asked.

"We gotta go, man," Aaron responded, a determined look on his face.


	3. What Lies Ahead

A battered gray truck rocketed down an empty moonlit highway, the dim headlights casting eerie shadows off of the trees engulfing both sides of the road. The teenager behind the wheel was strangely calm after the trauma he'd just endured, a stoic expression upon his face as his determined brown eyes stayed fixated on the asphalt. Gavin Miller sat in the passenger's seat, nervously eyeing Aaron from time to time to make sure that his friend was holding up alright, concerned about both the tale he'd told him on the way to pick up their other friends as well as his insistence on being the one to drive. The two of them had stealthy left Gavin's house shortly after Aaron's arrival and explanation, having called their other friends and told them to get ready while Gavin packed the things he needed, not telling them about what happened to Aaron's family to avoid freaking them out. After picking up the three remaining members of their group and giving them just enough information to go off of, they all paid a nerve-wracking visit to the local bank and withdrew as much money as the ATMs would allow, adding that to the rest of their cargo and finally speeding off down the nearest highway at around 4:00 AM.

"I still don't understand what's going on," Lily muttered irritably from the back seat, her tired eyes struggling to stay open.

"That makes two of us," Luke grumbled, letting his girlfriend rest her weary head on his shoulder.

"Three, actually," Dwight said, looking out the window irritably; "Are you guys going to tell us what the deal is any time soon or are we supposed to just keep guessing?"

"We already told you, the cult is back and we think they're going to come after all of us now," Gavin said, staring ahead as Aaron kept driving in silence.

"Uh-huh, and why don't we just go to the police and tell them that? I know they haven't exactly listened to us that well in the past, but they're still our best shot, unlike whatever this is," Dwight responded.

"The police are compromised. You know those detectives that interviewed Aaron last night? They were cultists, and who knows how many other cops are dirty. We can't take that risk. Believe me, this is the best course of action if we want to keep our families safe," Gavin answered, finally managing to make his friends understand the gravity of the situation.

"Fuck…" Dwight muttered, unsure of what to say.

"Speaking of Aaron, what's your deal man? You haven't said a word to us yet," Luke said.

"It doesn't matter right now," Aaron said.

"Of course it matters, we care about you," Lily said in a tired voice.

"I just… something happened and I don't want to talk about it right now, alright? The only thing that matters to me is getting you all somewhere safe and keeping the people we care about alive," he finally answered, slowing down as he drove around a bend in the road.

"Okay, fine, just know that you can tell us whenever you're-" Lily began, but quickly stopped mid-sentence as they came around the bend. "Oh my god, those fucking people are blocking the road!" Lily yelled, now fully awake with eyes wide in terror.

"I see em'," Aaron growled, glaring murderously at the makeshift blockade of cars and masked cultists ahead of them, beginning to speed up.

"What the hell are you doing, man? Turn around or something!" Dwight shouted as Gavin's face turned pale. Luke took Lily's hand in his own, knowing what was about to happen.

"Not a chance," Aaron said, flooring the gas pedal.

"Dude, fucking stop the car!" Gavin yelled as they closed in on the blockade, all while the cultists scrambled to get out of the way.

"Hold on to something," Aaron commanded just before colliding with the blockade, mowing down cultists and blasting through most of the cars before coming to a dead stop, killing the majority of their masked foes. Everybody in the car jolted forward roughly, but not much else happened to them aside from a few scrapes and bruises from broken glass or airbags. Aaron had been careful to not go so fast that it killed everyone in his own vehicle as well, and that effort had seemingly paid off.

"What the fuck was that? Are you trying to get us all killed?" Luke shouted while Lily clung to him, both dazed from the impact, before realizing that Aaron was loading a pistol. "What the hell are you doing?" he asked.

"It's not over until they're dead," he responded, his voice full of venom as he moved to open the door; "Leave if you want to, I'm finishing this."

"Aaron, stop, just stop! Look, man, we have an opening, we can get the hell out of here!" Gavin pleaded, trying to make his friend see reason.

"You're going to get yourself killed!" Dwight added, terrified beyond belief.

"I don't care. They killed my family," Aaron growled as he stepped out of the car, shocking everybody but Gavin as he made his way toward the remaining cultists, picking them off one by one, as their crippling wounds made them easy targets.

"You guys stay here, I'm going to go get him," Gavin told his terrified friends as he too stepped out into the brisk morning air, a steady flow of gunshots tearing through the otherwise quiet night. He stepped over shredded metal, shattered glass, and no small amount of gore and corpses before finally catching sight of his friend, who was holding a cultist with a broken leg at gunpoint. "Aaron, buddy, you need to calm down right now. We have to get out of here before more of them show up!" he said, trying desperately to make the vengeful boy see reason. "Look, I know exactly what you're going through right now feels like, I had to go through it with Ethan. It's the worst feeling in the world, and you have every right to be as pissed as you are, but your family is gone, man. They're not coming back, but you, me, and our friends back in the truck, we all still have a chance to make it out of this alive! I'm not leaving you here to die, none of us are, so either you come with us or we all stay and see what happens. Those are your options, and you need to make a choice right now because I'm not sure how much longer we can keep testing our luck for."

"...Okay," Aaron muttered after a few moments of silence, lowering the gun.

"Alright, good. Now come on, we don't have much ti-" Gavin began, but was cut off by a cultist sneaking up from behind and holding a gun of his own to the nineteen-year-old's head.

"Drop it, right now!" the masked man commanded as Aaron began to point his gun at him. A distraught look spread across the boy's face as the realization that he'd just gotten his friends killed hit him.

"Aaron, go, now! You and the others can still make it!" Gavin commanded.

"Shut up," the cultist snarled, pressing the cold metal barrel into his head. "Go ahead, make a move. But as soon as you do, your friend's brain gets splattered all over the pavement."

"Please…" Gavin begged.

"No, I'm not leaving you behind either," Aaron said, tossing his weapon aside. The injured cultist staggered up off the ground and took the gun, pointing it at its previous owner while leaning against a car for support.

"You have been a real pain in the ass, kid, but don't worry, this'll all be over soon," the cultist taunted as his two remaining allies approached the truck and forced Dwight, Luke, and Lily out onto the road, punching Lily in the face when she tried to fight back and drawing their knives when Luke started to come after them.

"Just let my friends go, man. I'm the one who killed your people, not them. They haven't done anything to you, so kill me instead," Aaron pleaded.

"Oh, now you want to talk? After a bunch of my friends are dead in the road? No, this is the end of the line buddy," the hooded man sneered. "You see, first we're gonna kill you, then your friend here, and then those two fine gentlemen that my associates are keeping an eye on over there. As for the girl, well… you can probably figure that one out on your own. Hell, maybe we'll even keep the boyfriend breathing a little while longer so he can watch," the cultist smirked, earning a look of pure hatred and disgust from Aaron. Even the person holding the gun to Aaron's head looked uncomfortable after hearing that last statement, and his arm was visibly shaking. As for Gavin, the more he saw and the more he heard, the more an animalistic fury was beginning to take over.

"Let em' go," Gavin growled, a dangerous look in his eyes.

"What's that? I didn't quite catch what you said there, speak up," the masked man taunted.

"Let. Them. Go," he repeated through gritted teeth, less quietly this time around.

"Nah, I like my idea better. I'm going to make what happened to your brother look like a joke." That was it, the final straw; Gavin threw his head back in a blind rage and smashed it into the cultist's face, managing to break his nose even behind the mask. "Motherfucker!" the cultist roared, dropping his gun and stumbling back as the teenager followed it up with a right hook to his face; "You're fucking dead kid," the man growled, seizing both of his arms and pulling him closer in an attempt to hold him still. "What are you going to do now, shithead?" the cultist challenged. After only a moment of hesitation, Gavin lunged forward and sank his teeth deep into the cultist's neck, the vile taste of warm blood filling his mouth as he ripped his head back and took most of the mans jugular with him, spitting it out into the dirt as fast as he could while his dying assailant collapsed with wide eyes, emitting a gurgling sound as he fell to the ground.

Everyone stood there shocked for a few moments as Gavin began to throw up, but then Lily saw an opening and took it, quickly picking up the cultist's gun and firing at the two with their knives drawn. She didn't quite manage to kill either of them, but their wounds were enough to put them out of commission, and they too hit the ground like bricks. Smirking at the sight, Aaron turned around to face the cultist holding a gun to him, hearing the soft click that signified an empty chamber. "Gun's empty, asshole," Aaron said smugly to the man who'd just tried to kill him before delivering a kick into his broken leg that knocked him to the ground. "Stay down," he ordered, before approaching his friends. Gavin was still recovering from what he'd just been forced to do, leaning up against the side of a car and taking deep breaths to steady himself, his eyes widened in shock. Dwight and Luke were both dealing with their own trauma all while consoling Lily, who was sobbing hysterically. "You alright?" Aaron asked her.

"No, I'm not fucking alright. I just killed two people," Lily choked out, starting to hyperventilate.

"No, no, you didn't kill them," Aaron said, taking the gun from her trembling hands and firing another shot into the heads of both of the dying cultists, making Lily yelp; "I killed them, see? I killed them, not you," he told her. Lily could only nod in response, too choked up to form words.

"Hey, look at me," Luke said, holding her tight in a warm embrace; "These monsters aren't worth crying over. You saved our lives, Lily" he said as she buried her face in his shoulder. "I'm uh… I'm gonna get her away from all of this. I think she's in shock," Luke said, his voice nearly as shaky as Lily's.

"Go ahead, just be careful. I think these two were the last of those fuckers, but we can't be sure," Dwight said to Luke, who nodded solemnly and led Lily away from the carnage. "Aaron…" he continued; "You said these people killed your family?"

"Yeah, they did. I had to kill four of them just to make it out of my house, and by the time I took out the third, it was too late. Everyone was dead except Sam, and then they killed her too. It happened right in front of me and I couldn't stop it," Aaron answered.

"Then why don't you finish the job?" Gavin growled, pointing at the cultist that Aaron had left wounded on the ground.

"Do you really want more blood on your hands than there already is? Besides, even if you do kill him, who knows how many more of these people are still out there. Let's just go now while we have the chance," Dwight said to Aaron, who was considering Gavin's proposal.

"One more body wouldn't mean a damn thing at this point, Dwight, but you're right, killing him probably wouldn't accomplish very much… I have a better idea," Aaron answered, going to retrieve something from his wrecked truck. It only took a few moments of rummaging around in a duffel bag to find what he needed, and he returned to his friends with it in his jacket pocket. He studied the remaining cultist for a few seconds before walking over to him and removing his mask, revealing the terrified face of a blonde man not much older than Gavin. "What's your name?" Aaron asked.

"...It's Blake," the wounded cultist answered fearfully.

"Today's your lucky day, Blake," Aaron responded, making his way over to the woods off the side of the road. Dwight and Gavin both watched in confusion as Aaron searched for something before he finally settled on a fallen branch that he decided would make a decent walking stick and returned to the group. "Someone help me get him up on his feet," Aaron said. Dwight quickly came over to help Aaron out and together they helped the man stand back up, with Aaron handing him the walking stick so he could steady himself. He looked at the confused cultist for a moment, wrestling with the decision he was about to make, before finally deciding to trust his gut. He pulled the copy of The Collective Knowledge that he'd taken from the school out of his jacket pocket and held it out to the man. "Take it," he said. Cautiously, Blake took the black book from his hand and stowed it away within his robes, giving Aaron a questioning look. "Listen up because I'm only going to say this once," Aaron began; "This whole thing between us is over. I don't care about your shitty cult anymore, and I don't think you people should bother wasting any more lives chasing after us, because we _will_ kill anybody you send our way. The five of us don't want any more trouble, and neither do you, so leave us the hell alone and you don't have anything to worry about. The school, my family, this little roadside pissing match… none of this ever happened as long as you don't hurt the people we care about. Just do as I ask and we will _never_ cross paths again, deal?"

Blake, whether he fully comprehended what he was agreeing to or not, took the deal without hesitation, hardly able to believe that he was going to be spared; "Yes, of course. You are not going to regret this!" he sputtered.

"I sure hope not," Aaron muttered, still unsure of this plan. "You be sure to hand-deliver that book to Hendrix and tell him about our deal when you do. Otherwise, I will personally go to the press and tell them everything, and by the time you find us the damage will already be done. Get some of your people down here to cover this up too. I don't really give a shit what kind of story you come up with, just do it. Maybe a drunk driver caused an accident that killed everyone."

"I noticed that you guys have a car over there that's more or less undamaged. We'll be taking that, so feel free to set the rest of these wrecks on fire or something. Go ahead and tell the whole town that the fuel tanks ruptured and started a fire; Make up a big sob story about how the bodies were burned beyond recognition, just give this whole thing some closure so our families don't wonder what happened to us. Gavin Miller, Aaron Ross, Lily Smith, Dwight Thompson, and Luke Greene all died in a car accident tonight, got it?" Gavin said, adding on to Aaron's plan.

"Got it," Blake confirmed, looking at the three boys with an almost sad expression. "You know, for what it's worth, I never wanted any of-"

"Just leave," Aaron interrupted, and Blake gave him a somber look before hobbling away with his makeshift walking stick.

"Come on, we need to get out of here right now. And _you_ are not getting anywhere near the steering wheel," Dwight said, glancing at Aaron as the three of them made their way to his wrecked truck, where Luke sat with Lily in the backseat, doing his best to soothe her as she lay with her head in his lap.

"No arguments there," Aaron muttered, helping load their things into the relatively undamaged red suburban that Gavin had spotted. They also left their phones in the wrecked vehicle after Luke mentioned that the cult could probably track them down if they took their cells with them. Soon enough they were all packed up and ready to go once again, and with Dwight in the driver's seat they sped off into the night, unsure of where exactly it was that they were going. The only thing they were sure of was that they needed to get as far away from that mess as possible.

 **(X)**

Birds were beginning to stir as the first few rays of dim sunlight peeked over the horizon. The crisp morning air was quickly warming up, leaving a thin layer of dew to coat everything in the small gravel clearing that the red suburban was parked in. The place wasn't much of a rest stop, but nobody in the car had been able to keep their eyes open any longer and didn't like the idea of dying in a car crash after narrowly escaping death only hours prior. In any case, a thick curtain of trees surrounded the parking lot on all sides, with only the driveway being visible from the road, so they were safe from any prying eyes. This was fortunate, for sitting in the coarse gravel of the clearing with his back against the car was Gavin Miller, his face still covered in dried blood and a glazed look in his eyes as he stared emptily into the treeline, keeping watch while his friends slept. At least, that's when he was supposed to be doing, but the combination of sleep deprivation and trauma had finally caught up with him, resulting in the thousand-yard stare that he now exhibited. "Hey," a voice piped up from near the front of the car, snapping him out of his trance.

"Hey," he responded as Aaron walked over to him carrying a bottle of water and a rag.

"I figured you could use this," Aaron said, handing him the supplies.

"Thanks," Gavin said, wetting the rag and starting to clean the blood off of his face. "I'm just glad I can't taste this shit anymore," he muttered.

"I can't imagine that was very pleasant, but it was worth it. You saved our asses with that whole Dracula thing," Aaron said, sitting down next to Gavin and looking into the treeline; "What a mess." Gavin gave no response, lost in his thoughts as he wiped the gore off of his face. "You know, most people get a car or some shit for their sixteenth birthday. All I got was PTSD and a body count, and you don't look like you're doing much better, friend."

"Aaron, I literally bit a man's throat out today and you killed at least a dozen people. Neither of us are exactly doing well," Gavin responded, trying to get the blood out of his facial hair.

"Do you regret what you did?" Aaron asked.

"Fuck no. That rapist piece of shit got what he deserved," Gavin grumbled, still furious about what the cultist had told him.

"Well good, we're alive because of what you did; all of us. Things could've gone a lot differently… You know, the reason I'm even out here is because I can't sleep. I've been getting nightmares ever since we got chased out of that school, but they've never been this bad before. Every time I close my eyes I just see another nightmare," Aaron lamented.

"Something tells me that I'm in for the same experience," Gavin responded; "All things considered, you seem to be taking everything that's happened pretty well."

"That's debatable. I'm pretty sure that I just haven't processed it all yet, so I'm kind of waiting for it all to catch up with me. The thing is, I keep telling myself that we did what we had to to survive, but I straight up murdered those people, Gavin. I killed them and I didn't feel anything while I did it. No sympathy, no disgust, no remorse; I've been trying to figure out what that says about me for a few hours now. Then there's what you did to that man and Lily having to shoot two people, and it's all making me wonder if we really are good people," Aaron lamented, fearful of what he was becoming.

"Of course we are. We may have done some terrible things today, but you and I both did what we did not only to survive but to protect the people we care about. Those cultists slaughtered your family over a stupid book and would've wiped the rest of us out too if we hadn't done what we did. Why would you even think that?" Gavin lectured.

"I don't know, man, it's just… we could've kept on driving after I plowed through their barricade, but I wanted revenge so badly that I put you all in harm's way. I can't even put into words how sorry I am for that," Aaron said, not making eye contact with his friend.

"Yeah, that was pretty fucking stupid, but you know what wasn't? Making that deal with the cultist to leave everyone alone, or coming up with a plan to get us all out of town in the first place. I mean, shit dude, blowing through that barricade was the best decision you made all night. What do you think would've happened if you'd done what everyone was telling you to do? Where do you think we'd be right now if you'd stopped the car?" Gavin inquired.

"Probably a shallow grave, if I had to guess," Aaron responded.

"Exactly. Listen, man, we both know that the things we did tonight were all sorts of fucked up, but there's no sense in beating ourselves up over it because the fact of the matter is that the five of us are alive _because_ of what we did. If I hadn't ripped that guy's throat out, we'd all be dead, and if you hadn't stopped the truck after the crash, we probably wouldn't have gotten very far anyway. They would've kept hunting us, and they would've caught up to us sooner or later, mainly because a trashed truck fleeing the scene would've stuck out like a sore thumb. So yeah, while you getting out of the car to go all Frank Castle on the bastards was dumb as shit, ultimately it led to the best-case scenario for us," Gavin explained.

"Us making it out of that alive was more luck than anything. Poor Lily is traumatized by what happened," Aaron said, still feeling guilty about putting his friends through so much horror.

"We all are, man. Some people just handle trauma differently than others," Gavin said as he wiped away the last of the dried blood.

"...It is what it is, I guess," Aaron mumbled; "Not much we can do about it now."

"You know what really sucks about all of this? I keep forgetting and then remembering again that our old lives are over, and it scares the shit out of me every time," Gavin said sadly; "My mom is going to wake up in a few hours and find out that she has nobody left. Dad bailed on us years ago, and now with me and Ethan gone… I don't know what she's going to do." Gavin sat there for a few moments in silence, waiting for Aaron to say something. When no response came, Gavin looked over at him to see his friend holding back tears. "You okay?"

"I'm sorry," Aaron choked out, avoiding looking at Gavin. It took the older of the two a few seconds to realize what he was talking about, and when it finally dawned on him, a stern look spread across his face.

"Don't you dare blame yourself for what happened to Ethan. That was not your fault," Gavin said.

"It was," Aaron sniffled, wiping his eyes.

"No, you listen to me; Whatever dumb shit I said to you the night Ethan went missing, however hard I hit you when you told me that you lost track of him, I want you to forget all of that right now, do you understand me? I'm so sorry, Aaron, you didn't deserve any of that," Gavin said with the utmost sincerity.

"Yeah, well, if I hadn't brought up that damn school we wouldn't even be in this mess," Aaron said.

"Don't do that to yourself, man. We all wanted to go there, and nobody argued against it. Who in a million years would've guessed that those psychotic fucks were using that place as some kind of meeting hall?" Gavin said before gripping Aaron's shoulder. "Look at me," he instructed, finally getting Aaron to make eye contact with him; "You did more for my brother in one night than his own dad did for him in his entire life. As far as I'm concerned, you're a goddamn hero. Okay?" Aaron could only nod in response, wiping tears away as the morning sun finally warded off the shadows. "Good," Gavin said, removing his hand from his shoulder and looking back into the woods as if he was searching for something.

"What are you looking at?" Aaron asked, looking in the same direction as Gavin and seeing nothing.

"What? Oh, nothing. Just thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye. Must be my mind playing tricks on me," Gavin said, clearly hiding something. It only took Aaron a few seconds to figure out what that something was, as it was the same thing that he himself had hid from everyone after that fateful day in the woods.

"You saw him too, didn't you?" Aaron asked.

"Him?" Gavin responded, feigning ignorance.

"Slenderman," Aaron said, getting the confirmation he needed from the look on Gavin's face. "Have you been keeping a lookout for him this whole time?"

"Yeah… I've been seeing him for a while now. Ever since Ethan went missing, Gavin answered, finally revealing the truth; "I never told anybody because I thought you all would think I was crazy. He hasn't really done anything other than stand around outside and watch me from a distance. It's creepy as hell, but I've kind of gotten used to it. When did you start seeing him?"

"That day in the woods when I found your brother. Ended up getting a closer look at the thing than I would've liked. It felt like death; Just being near him made my body feel like it was self-destructing. Then he did… _something_ to me," Aaron mused.

"What'd he do?" Gavin asked.

"I don't know. I was in so much pain at the time that I couldn't really process what was happening. I remember him touching the side of my face before everything went cold, and then darkness. The next thing I remember, I was waking up in a hospital two days later," Aaron answered, shuddering at the awful memory.

"Jesus… This whole thing is fucking insane. A freaky ass cult dedicated to worshipping an urban legend? Okay, sure. As weird as that is, I can wrap my head around it. But this thing actually being real is really messing with my head… Makes me wonder what else is out there that we thought was just a story," Gavin muttered.

"I'm not exactly fond of that idea either," Aaron said; "I say we worry about one problem at a time though."

"I'd drink to that if we had any booze," Gavin responded; "I should've snagged some from my mom's wine cabinet before we left. Never drank the shit before, but now seems like a pretty good time to start."

"Well, I'm glad you didn't. We're gonna need everybody sober for this trip," Aaron said as the two of them stood up.

"Good point. Hey, are you feeling alright?" Gavin asked, noticing that Aaron was looking a bit pale.

"I'm fine, I think I just-" Aaron started to say before turning around and throwing up in the gravel. All that managed to come out was bile, but it still stung horribly. "Stood up too fast," he finished, completely unaware that some of his veins had once again turned black when it happened, having dismissed the blurred vision and ringing ears as a regular side effect of vomiting. "So, what now?" he asked, noticing that the others were starting to wake up.

"Well, now that everyone's somewhat rested, I think we need to get back on the road. We're only a couple hours away from the shitshow back home. We need to go further, _way_ further," Gavin responded.

"How much further?" Dwight asked, stepping out of the car.

"Preferably not even the same timezone. We have no idea how far this cult's influence reaches. If it were up to me, I'd just drive us to the other side of the country," Gavin said.

"Then why don't we?" Lily piped up from the backseat, seemingly doing better than she was the night before. "If we're starting new lives, we may as well do it as far away from our old ones as possible."

"What she said," Luke added, rubbing his eyes.

"I'm down with it," Dwight said.

"Fuck it, lead the way, boss," Aaron added in, looking back at Gavin.

"Alright then, if it's good with all of you. That raises another question though, where do we go, exactly?"

"Rhode Island," Lily said without missing a beat.

"Why Rhode Island?" Gavin asked.

"Because it's the most overlooked state in this entire country, and it's probably the last place anybody would try to find us. I mean, come on; Does anything other than Family Guy come to mind when you think of Rhode Island?" Lily explained, surprising everybody but Luke.

"The two of us talked about it a little bit last night. We could go into some big explanation about why it's our best shot at safety, but do we really need to? It seems like everyone's already in agreement," Luke said.

"Alright then, it's settled," Dwight said. "Gavin, why don't you try to get some more sleep? You look half-dead, and since I'm not letting Aaron get behind the wheel anytime soon, I'll keep driving. Believe me, going into the medical field has made me used to not getting much sleep."

"Sounds great to me," Gavin said as everybody piled back into the car. "Let's get some food first though. I'm starving." Gavin sat upfront with Dwight while Aaron got in the back seats with Luke and Lily, and as Dwight started the car and pulled out of the parking lot, Aaron turned to speak with Lily.

"How are you holding up?" he asked her.

"I'm doing alright, better than I would be if I'd have killed those guys," she said, clearly still upset. "I can't believe I'm about to say this but thank you for killing them for me."

"I just didn't want you to cross the same line that me and Gavin did," he responded; "I'm so sorry, Lily. I feel terrible for putting you all through that.

"Well, what's done is done, and I appreciate the thought," she said with a slight smile as the car sped down the road; "I'm really sorry about what happened to your family, Aaron, I can't even imagine what that feels like. If you ever want to talk about it, me and Luke are here for you."

"Hell yeah, man. If you ever need anything, just say so," Luke added in.

"Same here. The five of us are all that we have left, so we're going to take care of each other now more than ever. I'm sure Gavin would say something similar if he wasn't already sleeping," Dwight said as he glanced at Gavin, who'd passed out in the passenger's seat.

"I already know that Gavin has my back," Aaron said with a chuckle; "And I know that you all do too. We're family." With that last statement, Aaron turned to look out the window for a few minutes before shutting his eyes and trying to get some sleep.

 **(X)**

The survivors made relatively good time in the days that followed; stopping only to get food, use the bathroom, fill up on gas, and sleep when night fell. Their trip was more or less a straight shot through the United States, as they'd given up on taking back roads after the first day or so. This was mainly due to the fact that they no longer had to worry about hiding from public view, as they'd managed to get some information by visiting a tech store in Montana and looking up the news in North Bend on a displayed computer. They'd all been able to breathe a somber sigh of relief when they discovered that the cult had in fact gone with the story about a drunk driver causing the wreck that took so many lives, effectively covering up the truth about what had happened and seemingly accepting their deal. Having to read about the reactions of their loved ones was heartbreaking, and they all longed to reunite with those they cared about, but everybody knew that they couldn't. This was the deal that they'd made, and now they had to live with it. As for Aaron's family and the four cultists that died with them, their deaths were covered up with a story about a friendly visit that ended in tragedy when a freak house fire caused by some faulty wiring broke out. What's more, was that the cult seemed to be doing a good job of keeping this news locally exclusive, so they didn't have to worry about their faces being broadcasted across news stations nationwide.

None of the teenagers were quite sure how they felt about being labeled as deceased, but it was just the way that things were now. Their journey was long and tiring, and most of them were complaining about having picked a destination so far away by the end of it, but after roughly six long days of driving they finally reached their destination on September 4th at around 3:53 PM; Providence, Rhode Island. They quickly searched for a motel, exhausted from their trip, and it wasn't long before they found a decent place to stay while they figured out what their next course of action would be. However, there was only one thing that they were worried about by the time they all checked in and found their rooms; getting some rest. As the hours passed and day turned to night, all of them did their best to get some semblance of sleep, wondering what the future had in store for them as they drifted off to the unfamiliar sounds of the city.


	4. Important Announcement

Hello everyone, it's been a while. I figured I would put this out there to explain why there's been such a gap in uploads and to reassure everyone still keeping up with this that I haven't forgotten about or abandoned the project. There's really no sugarcoating it so I'll get straight to the point; I'm putting _In Noctem_ on an official hiatus to focus on the rest of the series. At the time of writing, _The Eight Pages_ in the only story in the series that I consider 100% complete. _Survival Instinct_ , as you probably know, is very early into its plot, and for the second book in a series with four books officially published, that's not a good thing. I never really intended for _Survival Instinct_ to even be a part of _Blood and Venom_ , if I'm being perfectly honest. I was always just going to do an SCP story as its own standalone thing, but then one day I realized how much new potential was unlocked by bringing The Foundation and its lore into the main series, and the decision made itself. With everything I have planned for the future, it's become an important part of the overall plot, and that's part of the reason I don't want to move forward with _In Noctem_ yet. _The Arrival_ , in its current state, is an absolute mess in the grand scheme of things. There's a lot of new stuff that I have to add in, a lot of which coincides with the plot of _In Noctem_ , and I need to do one last set of revisions before I can move forward with Book 4 or things won't make sense. That's why I'm putting this story on hiatus. Not because of other projects or the hectic nature of my personal life(although that's one of the main reasons I don't have as much time to write as I'd like), but because I need to finish one thing before moving on to the next. It's extremely stressful having three different books to work on at the same time, especially when writing time is so limited by things going on in my personal life, so limiting the workload to writing one book and revising another helps tremendously, especially since I'm in college as well. I have a lot of plans for the future of this series, but I also have a lot of responsibilities outside of it, and I hope you all understand this decision. But again, I'd like to reiterate that I am **not** abandoning this project, I'm simply putting a halt to one part of it to finish and perfect another, which brings us to the next section of this announcement.

 **What's Coming Next?**

Stage 1, as I call it, refers to the first eleven chapters of the story. _In Noctem_ will probably be the longest story in the entire _Blood and Venom_ series, but for a good reason. Books 1, 2, and 3 were my love letters to the Slender and SCP mythos, so _In Noctem_ will be my full debut as an author, and I am very excited to be able to start uploading more chapters when the time comes. As far as what you can expect from Stage 1, some of the things you'll see consist of;

Timeskip: Chapter 4, titled _"Half a Decade"_ , takes place five years after Chapter 3. Aaron and the rest of the group are living relatively normally in Providence, but as you might have guessed, it doesn't last.

Returning Characters: Lauren returns in Chapter 4(which takes place just before the events of _The Arrival_ ) as a good friend of both Aaron and Lily, and her co-workers follow shortly after. Lauren will obviously have an important role in the story, as she was the main character of Book 3, but her detective/investigator friends will also have much bigger parts to play in _In Noctem_ , which is something I'm excited to explore. Slenderman himself will have an important role in the story as well. However, it's one that's different from what you've already seen me do with the character. No longer will he be used as a cheap gimmick for characters to run from in the dark, but as the true demonic mastermind that he really is. Slenderman is so much more than some random monster lurking in the woods, and I fully intend to imbue him with the level of fear and respect that he deserves with this portrayal.

New Characters: Proxies, both well known and brand new will play an integral role in _In Noctem_ , but especially in Stage 1. I don't want to reveal much about what will happen with the slaves of the Slenderman, but I think a lot of you will like one of the main ones I'm bringing in. I have big plans for a certain hatchet-wielding lunatic, and if his weapons of choice didn't give away his identity, then maybe the "ticking" will.

Plot: I don't want to give too much away about the plot of the story, but I can assure you that I have a lot planned. I already have every single chapter in both _Survival Instinct_ and _In Noctem_ mapped out, so all that's left is actually sitting down and writing them. The hard part is over, now I just need to sit down and turn my notes into a story.

 **The Future**

Stage 1 is just the beginning. I have pages upon pages of notes for this story, and I think you'll all like what I'm bringing to the table. In total, there will be three stages, each one with a different focus. Stage 1 is mainly about the group dealing with Slenderman and his forces, Stage 2 features the return of The Order and the fight against the cult, and Stage 3 revolves around something that I'm electing to keep secret for now. All in all, I have a lot of plans for the future, and I hope everyone understands my decision to finish an old project before starting on a whole new one, especially when the new one is going to be such a big endeavor. I am extremely grateful for all of your support over the years, and I hope you stick around to see what I have in store. Hang in there, everyone, great things are coming.


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